I reckon it's about time that I complain about a country other than my own for a minute.
I read of late an article in the Jakarta Post about yet another church closure, this one in the city of Jimba, Sumatra. It is something that happens fairly regularly in Indonesia, and the authorities in this case have chosen their favorite method of persecution. The church, they say, does not possess a building permit for occupation of the church building. This is because for the last 18 years, as long as the church has been in existence, the government authorities have neglected to grant a permit, despite yearly applications for the same. It is a clean (to misuse a term) way to do things, and at least no-one gets hurt, which has not always been the case in other church expulsions, wherein worshippers have been beaten and even killed. Well, murdered, I mean. In one case in Solo, Java, the killers had to be arrested, tried and imprisoned. They were given a jail term of four days. So, the whole thing was kind of messy, and a waste of everyone's time. No, it is simpler, they have found, to just lock the doors and apply a chain. Presto, no more church.
The first thing to strike me about this is that while they have succeeded in removing a church building for all practical purposes, they have also succeeded in growing the church body in each place; for history shows time and again that nothing in the world grows faith more quickly and robustly than persecution. It appears, therefore, that the intolerant Muslim government in each of these locales rather enjoys shooting itself in the foot. The building is a convenient place, but not a holy place. The ground upon which the building stands is not sacred or special ground. The faith resides in and moves about among the people.
The Apostle Paul put it this way:
"But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed--always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body." (2 Corinthians 4:7-10).
Beating at the air, after all, is merely tiring for the assailant, and has never done the least bit of damage to the air.
I read of late an article in the Jakarta Post about yet another church closure, this one in the city of Jimba, Sumatra. It is something that happens fairly regularly in Indonesia, and the authorities in this case have chosen their favorite method of persecution. The church, they say, does not possess a building permit for occupation of the church building. This is because for the last 18 years, as long as the church has been in existence, the government authorities have neglected to grant a permit, despite yearly applications for the same. It is a clean (to misuse a term) way to do things, and at least no-one gets hurt, which has not always been the case in other church expulsions, wherein worshippers have been beaten and even killed. Well, murdered, I mean. In one case in Solo, Java, the killers had to be arrested, tried and imprisoned. They were given a jail term of four days. So, the whole thing was kind of messy, and a waste of everyone's time. No, it is simpler, they have found, to just lock the doors and apply a chain. Presto, no more church.
The first thing to strike me about this is that while they have succeeded in removing a church building for all practical purposes, they have also succeeded in growing the church body in each place; for history shows time and again that nothing in the world grows faith more quickly and robustly than persecution. It appears, therefore, that the intolerant Muslim government in each of these locales rather enjoys shooting itself in the foot. The building is a convenient place, but not a holy place. The ground upon which the building stands is not sacred or special ground. The faith resides in and moves about among the people.
The Apostle Paul put it this way:
"But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed--always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body." (2 Corinthians 4:7-10).
Beating at the air, after all, is merely tiring for the assailant, and has never done the least bit of damage to the air.
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